Leicester City did NOT contact former boss Claudio Ranieri about a possible return.

Reports in Italy this morning suggested that someone from the club called Ranieri, who led the club to the Premier League title two years ago, to see if he was interested in replacing Craig Shakespeare as manager at the King Power Stadium - less than a year after he had been sacked nine months after the title triumph.

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Corriere dello Sport in Italy ran an interview with Ranieri, who is now in charge at French club Nantes, and opened it with the claim he had been called by someone in the UK asking him if he was interested but he replied ‘no thanks’. There were no quotes attributed to Ranieri himself.

However, if Ranieri had received such a call it had not come from City or anyone representing them, the Mercury understands.